Sealing liquid for safety closures

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a sealing liquid for sealing mailpieces containing water and a penetration agent, to the uses thereof and to letter-closing devices and franking machines containing such a sealing liquid.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/807,560, filed on May 29, 2007 and entitled “Sealing Liquid For Safety Closures”, which is now abandoned; and which claimed priority from German Patent Application No. DE 10 2006 025 200.4 filed on May 29, 2006, those applications being incorporated herein, by reference, in their entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a sealing liquid, in particular for sealing mailpieces, containing water, to the uses of such a sealing liquid for safety closures, to letter-closing devices and franking machines containing such a sealing liquid, and to a method for the detection of unauthorized opening of a mailpiece.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART

Mailpieces, in particular letters, in big quantities are in most cases automatically sealed and franked by the sender. For this purpose, amongst others, closing devices and franking machines are used, wherein both components are often connected with each other and sometimes form structural units. As an example, reference is made to the document DE 20 2004 011 390 U1.

In connection with the sealing of mailpieces, the sealing flaps of which are provided with a gumming, it is necessary to wet the gum before sealing. For this purpose, a sealing liquid is (automatically) applied to the gum by means of a wetting sponge. Then immediately after wetting the sealing flap is folded and pressed against an opposed surface of the mailpiece envelope, and thus the mailpiece is sealed.

From the practice, different sealing liquids are known. These are typically water or aqueous solutions, which on the one hand may contain biocides and fungicides, in order to prevent the occurrence of germ colonies and unpleasant odors. On the other hand, a wetting agent may be added.

Thus sealed mailpieces are normally opened by means of a letter opener or the like, i.e. the mailpiece is slit open in the area of an edge, and the contents are then taken out. However, a person, who is not authorized for opening, can open such a mailpiece for instance by watering it or by exposing it to a water vapor-containing atmosphere. Then the adhesive of the gumming will be dissolved in the water depositing in the area of the adhesion and the sealing flap can be lifted. The unauthorized person can then inspect the contents of the mailpiece and thereafter re-close the mailpiece with contents by folding and pressing-down the sealing flap. With careful operations, the authorized person later receiving the mailpiece cannot easily find out that before an unauthorized opening of the mailpiece has been performed. This is disturbing for obvious reasons.

From the document DE 4436294 A1 a sealing liquid is known in the art, which contains, besides the main component water, a second component of a two-component adhesive. The first component of the two-component adhesive is comprised in the gumming.

From the documents DE 3431239 A1 and DE-G 8716046, a safety letter envelope or a safety label is known in the art, wherein adhesive sections are disposed such that with (unauthorized) opening an irreparable destruction of the label or of the letter envelope will take place, which then can easily be identified.

From the document DE-OS 2319866, an enveloping machine with a wetting device is known in the art.

TECHNICAL OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

It is the technical object of the invention to provide a sealing liquid, which is suitable for safety closures, i.e. reveals an unauthorized opening.

BASICS OF THE INVENTION AND PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

For achieving this technical object, the invention teaches a sealing liquid for sealing mailpieces containing water and a safety additive not being visible by immediate observation.

The term immediate observation means the observation by a person without using technical means. In contrast, the safety additive can be made visible and/or detected by using technical means. It is therefore a not visible safety feature.

The invention is based on first experiments with a sealing liquid stained by means of a visible dye and the finding that by the automatic wetting of a gumming, the wetting will not take place laterally homogeneously, but a pattern will be formed because of the surface structure of the wetting sponge. Furthermore, it was detected that such a pattern will be destroyed by exposure to water vapor by flowing-out or washing-out processes. From this, the technical teaching of the invention originates, namely to provide a sealing liquid, the lateral distribution of which cannot easily be detected by the human eye, can however be made visible with technical means visible and/or detected with technical means. Then, based on the lateral distribution of the sealing liquid or of the safety additive, it can be found out, whether the safety additive has for instance been destroyed by heat and/or has been washed out. If this is detected, this is a sign of an unauthorized opening. If however the detected lateral distribution of the sealing liquid of the safety additive corresponds to a given lateral reference distribution (namely a lateral distribution, such as produced by wetting), then an unauthorized opening can be excluded, at least by dissolving the gumming.

The lateral distribution of the sealing liquid and thus of the safety additive can be arranged in the most different ways when sealing the mailpiece. In the simplest case, the lateral distribution of the sealing liquid corresponds to a pattern, such as produced by placing the wetting sponge on the gumming or on the mailpiece. It is however also possible that the wetting sponge or other means for applying the sealing liquid on the gumming or on the mailpiece is designed such that the sealing liquid is applied with a given pattern, one-dimensional or two-dimensional. Simple one-dimensional patterns are for instance a sequence of sections, where sealing liquid is applied, and sections, where no sealing liquid is applied. The sequence suitably extends in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the gumming. This can for instance be put into practice by means of a wetting roller, which has, similar to a stamp, sections, which do not come into contact with the gumming or the mailpiece. If such a roller having depressions and elevations along its periphery is wetted and rolled over the gumming, then a one-dimensional pattern is formed in the direction of the longitudinal extension of the gumming. Correspondingly, a two-dimensional pattern can also be formed, and in this case the means for applying the sealing liquid have corresponding depressions and elevations in different directions. Two-dimensional patterns may be simple, for instance checkered, or also more complicated. In the latter case, a result similar to a water-mark is obtained.

Preferably, the safety additive is selected from the group comprising “luminescent substances, peptides, proteins, nucleic acids, preferably with 2 to 50 nucleotides, low-molecular inorganic or organic substances different from other components of the sealing liquid”.

A luminescent substance contains atoms, molecules or particles, which are suitable for luminescence. The term luminescence designates the emission of electromagnetic radiation, in particular in the IR, visible or UV range during a relaxation of an atomic or molecular electronic system from an excited state into a ground state. Hereby, the previous excitation can be performed by electric energy or an electric potential (electroluminescence), bombardment with electrons (cathodoluminescence), bombardment with photons (photoluminescence), heat effects (thermoluminescence) or friction (triboluminescence). The luminescence in particular comprises the phosphorescence and the (photo)fluorescence. The fluorescence is a radiating deactivation of excited states, the transition from the excited state into the ground state being spin-permitted. The retention time in the excited state is typically approx. 10⁻⁸ s, i.e. the emission of the fluorescence radiation ends immediately after the end of the energy supply for the excitation. The phosphorescence is however a spin-forbidden deactivation of excited states by intercombination processes. Therefore, the relaxation is weak and slow. The retention time in an excited state is several milliseconds to hours and correspondingly long is the emission of the phosphorescence radiation. The emission wavelength of a luminescent substance is characteristic for the used dye and is determined by the energy difference between excited state and ground state. As emission wavelength is designated the maximum of the emission intensity in an emission spectrum. Preferably, the luminescent substances are fluorescent dyes. With respect to suitable fluorescent dyes, reference is exemplarily made to the documents WO 03/052025 A, WO 02/053677 A, EP 0147252 A, GB 2,258,659 and F. M. Winnik et al., Xerox Discloser Journal Vol. 17, No. 3, 1992, pages 161-162. Suitable fluorescent dyes on an organic base, for instance naphthalimide, coumarine, xanthene, thioxanthene, naphtholactame, azlactone, methine, oxazine, or thiazine, are known from the literature, for which purpose reference is exemplarily made to Schwander et al., “Fluorescent Dyes” in Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2002. With respect to suitable fluorescence-conjugated polymers, reference is complimentarily made to the documents McQuade et al., Chem. Rev. 100:2537-2574 (2000), Yang et al., J. Am. chem. Soc. 120:11864-11873 (1998), Yang et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 120:5321-5322 (1998) and Zhou et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 117:12593-12602 (1995). Fluorescent dyes may also be differently doped, for instance with europium, whereby then different emission wavelengths are obtained. As examples only for suitable luminescent substances, the substances of the Luminex range of the company AlliedSignal are mentioned here. Luminescent substances according to the invention have a color, which when viewed under daylight cannot easily be detected. Alternatively, the luminescent substances, if they comprise a color, are so strongly diluted that the color cannot easily be detected. The detection of a luminescent substance is performed by excitation with a suitable primary radiation and detection of the emission radiation excited thereby. A spatially resolved detection is for instance possible by means of a CCD camera and a suitable optical system. A linear CCD element may be used in the case of a one-dimensional pattern, and in this case the longitudinal extension of the gumming and the line of the sensor elements should approximately be optically parallel. However, for two-dimensional patterns, a two-dimensional CCD array with a suitable optical system may also be used, which then permits an immediate reproduction and representation of the detected pattern.

In principle, proteins or peptides of any species can be used, and these are preferably non-toxic. Corresponding considerations apply to the nucleic acids. For a sealing liquid, preferably only a single species should be used, i.e. always identical molecules. The detection of a protein or peptide may for instance be made by an antibody being specific for the peptide or protein. If necessary, the protein or peptide is first immobilized and then incubated with the antibodies. By means of dyes coupled to such an antibody then a pattern can be made immediately visible for the human eye, analogous to the staining of a tissue cut in biochemistry. However, antibodies may also be used, to which luminescent substances are coupled, which are then made visible by irradiation for instance with UV light. In the case of the nucleic acids, molecules of any species may be used, too. The detection takes place for instance by usual methods of the hybridization of detector nucleic acids, which are specific for the nucleic acids used in the sealing liquid, i.e. hybridize therewith under stringent conditions, that is, are at least partially complementary in the sequence. The detector nucleic acids then either carry dyes, which are easily recognizable, or it is also possible to use luminescent substances coupled to the detector nucleic acids and to detect them in the mentioned way. In the relevant literature of biochemistry the different methods for the spatially resolved detection of peptides, proteins or nucleic acids can be found, so that reference is made thereto.

Low-molecular organic or inorganic substances have a molecular weight of typically below 5,000 Da, in particular below 1,000 Da. In particular can be used substances, which can be detected by means of characteristic chemical reactions with an analysis substance in a simple and spatially resolved manner. Examples are salts of rather rare elements, such as for instance Pd, Pt, Ir, Au or Ag.

The detection of the safety additive is performed for all variants with an at least one-dimensional spatial resolution.

A sealing liquid according to the invention may preferably comprise the following components: a) 50 to 99.9, preferably 70 to 99.0, in particular 80 to 99.0 wt.-% water, b) 0 to 10.0, preferably 1.0 to 30.0, in particular 1.0 to 20 wt.-% penetration agent, c) 0 to 10.0, preferably 0 to 3.0, in particular 0.01 to 1.0 wt.-% wetting agent, d) 0 to 10.0, preferably 0 to 3.0, in particular 0.01 to 2.0 wt.-% stabilizer and/or buffer, e) 0 to 5.0, preferably 0 to 2.0, in particular 0.01 to 1.0 wt.-% dyes, f) 0 to 5.0, preferably 0 to 1.0, in particular 0.01 to 0.1 wt.-% aromatic substances, g) 0 to 10.0, preferably 0 to 1.0, in particular 0 to 0.1 wt.-% biocides and/or fungicides and/or other usual auxiliary substances, h) 0.0001 to 10.0, preferably 0.0001 to 2.0, in particular 0.0001 to 0.1 wt.-% safety additive, and the components a) to h) always add up to 100 wt.-%.

With respect to the facultatively present components b) to g), which are always different from the component h), the following is set forth.

A penetration agent is a substance, which leads to an absorption time of the sealing liquid in paper materials being reduced compared to water, in particular by at least 10%, preferably by at least 20%, most preferably by at least 50%, referred to the absorption time of pure water. Wetting agents and penetration agents are different in the terminology used here. The absorption time is measured as the time, in which a drop of the sealing liquid having a volume of 100 pl±5 pl applied onto the paper material has completely penetrated the paper. The measurement of the absorption time, also called penetration time, is known from the ink jet technology, and as an example, reference is made to the document EP 1072653 A2. Suitable penetration agents are for instance C1-8 alkyl esters of C1-8 monocarbonic, dicarbonic, or tricarbonic acids, wherein the carbonic acid may be OH-substituted, in particular in the α position. The carboxyl groups may completely or partially be estered. Other preferred penetration agents are C1-8 ethers von C1-8 polyols, wherein at least one OH group of the polyol is not ethered. As polyols in particular diols or triols may be used, and in the latter case 1 or 2 OH groups may be ethered. C1-8 alkyl may be linear, branched, saturated or unsaturated. As C1-8 alkyl for instance methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl, pentyl etc may be used. C1-8 carbonic acids may be linear or branched, saturated or unsaturated. As C1-8 carbonic acids may be used formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, valerianic acid, capronic acid, isobutyric acid, isovalerianic acid, acrylic acid, crotonic acid etc. As hydroxycarbonic acids for instance glycolic acid, lactic acid, mandelic acid, malic acid, tartaric acid and citric acid may be used. As diols for instance 1,2-ethanediol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,2-propanediol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,3-butanediol, 1,2-butanediol, etc may be used. The polyol may contain one or more ether groups. An example for such a polyol is 2,2′-oxydiethanol (diethylene glycol). As suitable specific compounds, the following are named non-exclusively: methyl lactate, ethyl lactate, propyl lactate, isopropyl lactate, malic acid diester, malic acid monoester, tartaric acid diester, tartaric acid monoester, ethylene glycol monomethylether, ethylene glycol monoethylether, ethylene glycol monopropylether, ethylene glycol monobutylether, diethylene glycol monomethylether, diethylene glycol monoethylether, diethylene glycol monopropylether, diethylene glycol monobutylether. With regard to further suitable penetration agents, as examples, reference is made to the document EP 1072653 A and the documents cited therein, as well as to the documents DE 69628897 T2, U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,314 A.

As wetting agents, for instance tensidic wetting agents are suitable. The wetting agent can be selected from the group comprising “non-ionic tensides, amphoteric tensides, anionic tensides, cationic tensides, ricinoleic amino propyl betaine”. Preferably they are biologically decomposable tensides. Preferably amphoteric tensides are used, since thereby surprisingly a particularly good wetting of the gum is achieved.

Further, a sealing liquid may contain one or more of the following additional and/or auxiliary substances: stabilizers and/or buffers, dyes, and/or aromatic substances. Of course, biocides (for instance Parmetol A6 or cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) and/or fungicides may also be added in a usual manner. As dyes and aromatic substances preferably substances having an approval as food additives are used, such as food colors, citral, hexyl hexonate etc. Stabilizers and/or buffers stabilize components of the sealing liquid, which can be hydrolyzed. For instance, Na lactate is a suitable stabilizer or buffer for lactate esters. As stabilizers or buffers in particular all usual set-up salts can be used, such as Na lactate, NaCl, KCl etc.

It is important for the understanding of the invention that the safety additive is no otherwise usual component of a sealing liquid, but is exclusively and only used for detection purposes. A safety additive has no other function for a mailpiece envelope wetted therewith. In particular, a safety additive does not functionally correspond to one of the components b) to g) or to a component of a multi-component adhesive.

The invention further relates to the use of a sealing liquid according to the invention for sealing mailpieces and to a method for producing a sealed mailpiece, wherein a flap provided with a gumming of a mailpiece envelope including the mailpiece or a section of the mailpiece opposite to the folded flap is wetted with the sealing liquid with a defined laterally inhomogeneous distribution of the safety additive, and wherein the flap is then folded and pressed against an opposed surface of the mailpiece envelope. The term laterally inhomogeneous distribution means a non-uniform distribution of the sealing liquid or of the safety additive, referred to the plane of the gumming or the opposed section of the mailpiece envelope. In other words, the sealing liquid or the safety additive is applied with a pattern. The inhomogeneity will in the simplest case be such that the sealing liquid is applied in some sections, however not applied in other sections. It is however in principle also possible that different amounts or concentrations of safety additive according to the given pattern are applied.

The mailpiece may in particular be a letter, and the mailpiece envelope may be a letter envelope. It is preferred that the wetting and the folding and pressing-down of the flap is performed in an automatic manner in a letter-closing device.

The invention further relates to a letter-closing device comprising a tank containing a sealing liquid according to the invention, and comprising a wetting arm, which is provided for discharging sealing liquid from the tank and transferring discharged sealing liquid on the gumming or on a section with folded flap being opposite to the gumming of a mailpiece inserted into the letter-closing device with a defined laterally inhomogeneous distribution of the sealing liquid or of the safety additive.

The invention further relates to a franking device comprising a letter-closing device according to the invention.

The subject matter of the invention is further a mailpiece with a mailpiece envelope, which is provided with a flap equipped with a gumming, which by using a sealing liquid according to the invention is sealed by wetting the gumming, folding the flap and pressing the gumming against the mailpiece envelope, wherein the safety additive is arranged with a defined laterally inhomogeneous distribution in the section of the gumming.

Finally, the invention relates to a method for detecting an unauthorized opening of a mailpiece sealed by means of a method according to the invention, wherein the laterally inhomogeneous distribution of the safety additive is detected and/or indicated and optionally automatically compared to a laterally inhomogeneous reference distribution. With respect to the detection, reference is made to the above explanations with regard to different safety additives.

In the following, the invention is described in more detail with reference to embodiments representing examples of execution only.

Example 1 Sealing Liquids According to the Invention

The following commercially available sealing liquids can for instance be used as sealing liquids: sealing liquid “FT” of the company FrancoTech GmbH, Germany, “E-Z Seal” of the company Pitney Bowes, USA and “Quick Seal” preparation of the company Service Industries, USA, in the form as sold in Canada.

Further, sealing liquids can be used, which contain aqueous solutions with a penetration agent and auxiliary agents. As penetration agents can be used: EGDA (ethylene glycol diacetate), DEGMEE (diethylene glycol monoethylether), EL (ethyl lactate) and EGMBE (ethylene glycol monobutylether). All these substances are obtainable from the company Merck, Germany. As auxiliary agents can be used: NaLac (sodium lactate solution 50%, Merck, Germany), TMN 6 (Tergitol TMN 6 non-ionic tenside, Fluka, Germany), AM R 40 (ricinoleic amino propyl betaine, amphoteric tenside sample, Degussa, Germany) and acid rhodamine BC 01 as a dye (Duasyn Merck).

To a sealing liquid mentioned above, a usual, commercially available fluorescent substance is added, which has in the visible range, at least for the concentration used here, no color detectable by the human eye, however lights up under irradiation by a UV lamp in a red color. The addition is made with approx. 0.01 wt.-%.

Example 2 Applying a Sealing Liquid According to Example 1

The gumming of a letter envelope is wetted by means of a wetting sponge provided for a letter-closing device with sealing liquid according to Example 1. The wetting sponge comprises a plurality, for instance 5, square recesses of a size of 2×2 mm, which are uniformly lined up in distances of 5 mm between the squares along the longitudinal extension of the wetting sponge and thus along the longitudinal extension of the gumming to be wetted. Thereby are formed corresponding sections of the gumming, which are not wetted. Then the flap is folded and pressed against the letter envelope.

Example 3 Testing a Mailpiece Having been Sealed According to Example 2 and Opened in a not Unauthorized Manner

The letter envelope is first slit open by means of a letter opener along an edge. Then the inner side of the letter envelope is irradiated by a UV lamp. In the section of the letter envelope, on which the flap with the gumming has been folded (and still adheres), under the UV irradiation a red shining surface can be seen, which is interrupted by approximately square gaps. This can be seen on the inner side, since the sealing liquid is absorbed by the letter envelope when sealing it. Thereby, only a slight washing-out of the pattern in the plane of the gumming occurs. The observation shows as a result that the letter envelope has not been opened. This can be automated by recording the pattern for instance by means of a CCD camera and comparing it to a reference pattern. In case of a positive comparison, a display “OK” or the like may take place. In case of a negative comparison, an alarm signal is generated, optically and/or acoustically.

Example 4 Testing a Mailpiece Having been Sealed According to Example 2 and Opened in a not Unauthorized Manner

First, a letter envelope is sealed according to Example 3. Then the letter envelope is exposed in the section of the gumming to a water vapor atmosphere, until the flap can be opened without destruction. Thereafter, the flap, if necessary after another wetting, is closed again. Then the letter envelope is opened and inspected according to Example 3. A nearly uniform distribution of the red shining safety additive appears, and the mailpiece can be qualified as having been opened in an unauthorized manner.

This results is based on that the opening in a water vapor atmosphere leads to strong washing-out of the safety additive and that a precise re-closure at exactly the same position of the flap is very difficult. As a result, by opening and re-closing, the pattern is irreversibly destroyed. The unauthorized person has however not noticed this, since the safety additive cannot be seen in visible light. 

We claim:
 1. A method of sealing a mailpiece, comprising: providing a mailpiece envelope with a gummed flap; applying a sealing liquid to gumming on the flap or on an area of the mailpiece envelope opposite the gumming on the folded flap according to a defined laterally inhomogeneous pattern, the sealing liquid including water and a safety additive substantially not visible by immediate observation; and subsequently folding the flap and pressing the flap against an opposed surface of the mailpiece envelope; wherein the sealing liquid comprises: a) 80 to 98.9599 wt.-% water; b) 1.0 to 20 wt.-% penetration agent; c) 0.01 to 1.0 wt.-% wetting agent; d) 0.01 to 2.0 wt.-% stabilizer and/or buffer; e) 0.01 to 1.0 wt.-% dyes; f) 0.01 to 0.1 wt.-% aromatic substances; g) 0 to 0.1 wt.-% biocides and/or fungicides and/or other usual auxiliary substances; and h) 0.0001 to 2.0 wt.-% safety additive.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mailpiece is a letter and the mailpiece envelope is a letter envelope.
 3. The method according to claim 1, which comprises performing the applying and folding steps with an automated letter-closing device.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein component h) amounts to 0.0001 to 0.1 wt.-% safety additive.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the safety additive includes a luminescent substance, is substantially not visible by immediate observation, and is constituted so as to be visible or detectable using a technical mechanism.
 6. A method for detecting unauthorized opening of a mailpiece, comprising: providing a mailpiece sealed according to the steps of: providing a mailpiece envelope with a gummed flap; applying a sealing liquid to gumming on the flap or on an area of the mailpiece envelope opposite the gumming on the folded flap according to a defined laterally inhomogeneous pattern, the sealing liquid including water and a safety additive substantially not visible by immediate observation; and subsequently folding the flap and pressing the flap against an opposed surface of the mailpiece envelope; detecting a pattern of the safety additive on the mailpiece; and comparing the detected pattern of the safety additive with a defined laterally inhomogeneous reference pattern. 